At a recent Fresno meeting of the California State University board of trustees, Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante's comments missed the central point of post-secondary funding as it faces a deficit ridden state budget.

Bustamante, who is also a trustee, called on California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed and the board of trustees to be more pro-active in dealing with the budget probems confronting the CSU system. His aimless charge that Reed was not aggressive enough in his dealings with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger contributed nothing to the need to re-examine and revise the current financing structure of higher education in California.

The Lt. Governor did not mention that the present state budget struggles were created by a fiscally irresponsible Legislature with a Democratic majority and a Democratic governor. The current proposals to reduce CSU and UC budgets are a result of the state spending more money than it had. It is now time to live within the financial means of the state's taxpayers.

Bustamante's quick answer to the present budget problems facing California's post-secondary education system is to increase the cigarette tax by 25 cents per pack. It is the same old fiscal mismanagement that has plagued the state for some time. Don't fix the problem, just increase tax revenues.

The California Master Plan for Higher Education adopted in 1960 promised qualified students a college education. The state's robust economic growth over the last 40 years or so held this educational promise as the foundation for becoming the world's fifth largest economy. Maybe it's time to re-examine the financial implications of the Plan and make adjustments in order to achieve its goals.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposals call for an undergraduate fee increase of 10 percent and 40 percent for graduate fees. Additionally, the governor is proposing a higher education budget reduction of 10 percent. The proposed fee inceases for community college students is an increase from $18 to $26 per unit.

This problem of tuition fee increases came up in the early 1990s. Instead of solving the problem, the state merely adjusted them. In order to avoid these large tuition fee increases in future years, the fees need to be indexed to the cost of living and be allowed to annually adjust themselves. This avoids large tuiton fee increases every 10 years.

The current financial structure of the state's post-secondary educational system needs some fine tuning in order to reflect the changing times and ever-increasing student population. Merely raising taxes without updating and indexing existing fees guarantees another financial upheaval in a couple of years.

Post-secondary education is important to the long-term economic growth of the state. It is time to fix the problem, not politicize it.